Postpartum: What the. . . . ? (aka Too Much Information)

One of the things I was nervous about was how it would feel to recover from giving birth. I tried to do some reading to prepare myself, but nothing can really tell you how you'll feel. That being said, here are a few of the things I wish I had known before coming home with Jack.

1. Night sweats: for the first couple of weeks after Jack was born, I would literally soak the bed having crazy night sweats. I thought I was wearing pyjamas that were too warm. As it turns out, it's totally normal - just your body's way of getting rid of extra fluid you carried around when you were pregnant.

2. Cracks: Breastmilk is the best cure for cracked nipples.  If you can, express a bit of milk, rub it in, and let it air-dry. Amazing.

3.  Crying:  Oh, the crying.  Everyone talks about how hormonal you are after giving birth, but it still caught me off guard.  I cried about lots of different things that I could have guessed before (being tired, being in pain, being tired), but I also cried for lots of reasons I never anticipated.  Most of them had to do with the overwhelming feelings about having a baby.  I cried looking at him.  I cried the first time Jahn took him for a (very short) walk because he and I were separated.  I cried when he cried in his bassinet, because I imagined how alone and scared he must be feeling (and there was the beginning of co-sleeping....but that's another post!).  Long and short is, you'll cry.  Lots.  And that's ok.

4. Evolution:  I am (generally) a sane person.  I understand reason and logic.  But that went almost completely out the window when Jack was born, and it took me a while to understand that had a lot to do with biology and evolution (and not just that I was crazy).  In theory, I knew that when a baby cried, it wasn't dying -- it just needed something.  In practice, I could NOT handle listening to Jack cry, especially in someone else's arms.  Even when all I wanted was a break, hearing him cry was more than I could take.  But, of course, nature has made us this way -- mothers are biologically tuned into their babies - it's how we evolved and survived.  So no, you're not crazy.  It gets waaaaay easier as the baby gets older, but in the beginning, a lot of what you feel is hard wired right into you.